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Celebrated science fiction author Brian Stableford has praised John Metcalfe's stories saying they "build up a unique sense of unease" and critically acclaimed horror author T.E.D. Klein has said of Metcalfe that he is a "writer of subtle, finely crafted supernatural tales". While Metcalfe may not be very well known nowadays, he is considered a significant influence on weird fiction, filling his stories with bizarre mystery and creeping dread. The title story is truly strange and wholly unique in the broad expanse of weird fiction while several stories included involve a pervasive sense of melancholy with a sinister dose of the macabre such as the masterful "Crowcastle", the twisted and mysterious "The Flying Tower" and the truly tragic "The Backslider". Stories like "The Double Admiral" and "The Bad Lands" cast an eery atmosphere and embrace the weird like few others while stories such as "Lure" and "The Glamour Hunter" are more psychologically complex tales of obsession and fate. If you've never walked the dark path with Metcalfe, isn't it about time you did? (Summary by Ben Tucker)

Colonel Hapgood, our narrator, has been sending his son Denis to a chateau of a distant relative in the French countryside where the boy has taken quite a fancy to the visits. Ultimately based on the curious behavior of his cousin M. Vaignon and the uneasy feeling he gets when visiting the chateau, Hapgood decides that his son's visits must stop. Incidentally at the same time, M. Vaignon sends a message to Hapgood basically requesting the same thing, a communication silence and no more visits. Denis is at first distraught but soon becomes joyful as his friend Raoul from France, an older man who apparently acted as a groundskeeper of sorts at Vaignon's estate, shows up in England to continue their friendship. Hapgood is immediately repelled by Raoul's odd lack of characteristics in his visage and becomes increasingly concerned as his son takes ill and becomes weaker and weaker as the days go on. Is this menace to his son's well-being all in Hapgood's mind or is Raoul some kind of supernatural emissary of darkness? - Summary by Ben Tucker